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In a changing climate, there is an interest in predicting how extreme rainfall events may change. Using historical records, several recent papers have evaluated whether high-intensity precipitation scales with temperature in accordance with the Clausius--Clapeyron (C--C) relationship. For varying locations in Europe, these papers have identified both super C--C relationships as well as a breakdown of the C--C relationship under dry conditions. In this paper, a similar analysis is carried out for the United States using data from 14 weather stations clustered in four different hydroclimatic regions: the coastal northeast, interior New York, the central plains, and the western plains. In all regions except interior New York state, 99th percentile 1-h precipitation generally followed the C--C relation. In interior New York, there was evidence that intensity scaled with a super C--C relationship. For the 99.9th percentile precipitation, interior New York displayed some moderate evidence of a super C--C relationship, the western plains showed little relation between precipitation and temperature, and the remainder of sites generally scaled with the C--C relationship. Also, if only July, August, and September precipitation is considered, all stations except those in interior New York have little relation between temperature and precipitation, suggesting that precipitation intensity during summer months may not be well constrained by the C--C relationship. Overall, the C--C relationship (or a variation thereof) does not appear to constrain extreme precipitation in all regions and in all seasons, and its ability to aid in constraining future predictions of extreme precipitation may only be relevant to certain locales and time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from observations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) twentieth-century climate change model [phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3)] simulations were analyzed to examine the decadal changes of the impact of ENSO on air temperature Tair and precipitation P over the United States. The comparison of composites for the early period (1915–60) and the recent period (1962–2006) indicates that cooling (warming) over the south and warming (cooling) over the north during ENSO warm (cold) winters have been weakening. The ENSO influence on winter P over the Southwest is strengthening, while the impact on P over the Ohio Valley is weakening for the recent decades. These differences are not due to the long-term trends in Tair or P; they are attributed to the occurrence of the central Pacific (CPAC) ENSO events in the recent years. The CPAC ENSO differs from the canonical eastern Pacific (EPAC) ENSO. The EPAC ENSO has a sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) maximum in the eastern Pacific. Enhanced convection extends from the date line to the eastern Pacific, with negative anomalies in the western Pacific. The atmospheric responses resemble a tropical Northern Hemisphere pattern. The wave train is consistent with the north–south Tair contrast over North America during the EPAC ENSO winters. The CPAC ENSO has enhanced convection in the central Pacific. The atmospheric responses show a Pacific–North American pattern. It is consistent with west–east contrast in Tair and more rainfall over the Southwest during the CPAC ENSO winters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]